News Channel CEO Sent To Jail

A local court in Mumbai has sent the Republic TV CEO to jail. Republic TV’s chief executive officer Vikas Khanchandani has been sent to jail for 14 days. Vikas was earlier arrested by Mumbai police on Sunday in a case linked to manipulation of television ratings.

It is alleged that the channel had manipulated the ratings by inflating audience viewership and thus “cheated” its advertisers to the tune of crores. Mumbai police alleged that Vikas has refused to cooperate with the investigation.

According to police, the TV channel allegedly paid some people to tune into its channel to record the ratings and thus inflate the ratings. The police also investigated some cable operators in connection with the case. It is alleged that LCN and promotional LCN technology was used to manipulate ratings.

The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) too stated in October that some channels were rigging TRP numbers. 
Meanwhile, Republic TV’s founder and Edito-in-Chief Arnab Goswami was arrested by Mumbai police in November in connection with another case – an abettment of suicide of an interior designer based on his “suicide letter”. Arnab was sent to jail as well. However, Arnab was released on bail.

In the wake of allegations of TRP manipulation, the news channel has denied them. It claimed that the channel is being targeted by local politicians who are unhappy with the channel’s news reports. The channel said it will continue its fight against those who are trying to defame their network.